


Cherry Blossoms

by Secretly_a_wuss



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Fluff, Fox - Freeform, Kissing, Kitsune, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, SO MUCH FLUFF, SebaCiel - Freeform, Spirits, but it has a happy ending sort of, feudal era japan, fox!sebastian, kitsune!Sebastian, underage love but it's nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secretly_a_wuss/pseuds/Secretly_a_wuss
Summary: Ciel is sick and confined to bed, he meets a little fox pup and they become friends despite Ciel's stubbornness. Sebastian the kitsune falls in love with the dying boy... but he finds that he's not ready to let Ciel go





	1. Alone

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a oneshot for the summer sebaciel week day 1 mythical au, whoops now it's a multichap fic

“Get better soon Ciel” his identical twin brother said as he closed the sliding paper door and bathed the sick child’s room in darkness. 

Darkness. He hated the dark, his whole outlook on life had seemed to grow dark as deep in his bones he knew he wouldn’t get better. He could feel it in his painful lugs that tightened and made each breath a battle. He knew from the fevers and the sickness and the devils that danced in his right eye socket, could tell from the pain that the wound had invited disease into his body. The bandages and the herbs that the doctors had prescribed would not make his missing eye grow back, they would not stop him from dying, no amount of praying or lighting incenses would keep the boy’s spirit from death. 

Soon there would be a little shrine in the house for him, with his favourite rabbit doll and an offering of rice. He hoped it looked nice. Ciel wanted spirits to actually exist so that he could at least watch over his family, he wasn’t ready to leave them behind. As he muffled a cough with the sleeve of his white comfy robe and pulled the cover of his futon closer to his cold body, he lamented the fact that he’d never prove himself to his father and his twin brother, he’d never be anything more than the weaker spare. If only he hadn’t lost his eye then he wouldn’t be staring down such despairing circumstances, he had always been the weaker child from the start. 

He cast his remaining eye over the dark room, hating how bare it was, when he noticed an out of place object. A lonely iron kettle sat on the tatami mat covered floor, it definitely hadn’t been there before, and so the sickly boy sat himself upright in curiosity. He kicked off the heavy blankets with a great struggle, causing small coughs to rattle in his chest before he was able to crawl over to the strange object. He picked up the plain iron kettle, it had a woven straw handle and was strangely warm, as though it had been used recently. Ciel sat with his legs sprawled out, the odd kettle rested in his lap as he lifted the little lid and took a peek inside. 

An inhuman red eye stared back from the dark of the pot, pupil slit and iris burning with its intensity. Ciel yelped and threw the kettle across the room, shuffling backwards to put as much space between him and he haunted object as possible.

“Ouch!” the kettle cried out as it rolled across the floor. In a puff of smoke, the once iron object transformed to reveal a young boy dressed in a lazy black kimono that hung off his shoulders and a creepy traditional fox mask that covered his features. Large orange ears swivelled round to the sick boy, surprising Ciel as he had believed that they were a part of the mask, a fluffy fox tail with a white tip peeked out from behind the creature confirming that the being was certainly not human. The once kettle quickly invaded his personal space and grabbed his face with both hands (which sported nails that were too long and dug into the skin of his cheeks). Despite the lack of eyeholes in the finely crafted fox face Ciel just knew that the spirit was staring him down with inhuman red eyes, the likes of which he had first seen in the depths of the fake kettle. 

“Aren’t you scared? I’m a big bad kitsune here to eat little children like yourself” the spirit leered, its closed eyed painted face was expressionless, but Ciel felt like he was being smirked at. The young boy was about to retort something sarcastic and witty when his lungs seemed to give up on him, and he instead fell into a coughing fit. 

The kitsune froze, he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands as the child’s face grew red and he was shaken with desperate coughs. Unexpectedly the kitsune wrapped his arms around the coughing boy and buried his head in the black fabric of his kimono. Ciel’s eye watered and his breaths were pitiful wheezes, but with soothing strokes of the spirit’s clawed hand he was eventually able to smother his coughing and breath slightly better.

“I didn’t want to make you ill, I just wanted to scare you… to have a bit of fun and play a prank” the spirit mumbled. He leaned back and removed his mask to reveal the face of a young boy similar to Ciel’s own age, he had messy black hair and red eyes like a cat. They looked softer than the eye that had stared him down from the tea pot, they weren’t what Ciel had expected, his skin was pale and only marred by whisker like lines that ran across his cheeks.

“I don’t need your pity, my illness has nothing to do with you” Ciel frowned and tried to push away the fox’s warm and comforting arms, he already felt weak enough around his family. The kitsune brushed a strand of silky ebony hair away from his face as he awkwardly looked away from the irritated child. 

“I just wanted to play” the fox spirit mumbled, tail curled around his folded legs. 

“Well I need to rest, just leave me alone” Ciel grumbled and got back into bed, his back to the unwelcome guest. While the initial fright of the kettle may have worn off he was still irritated that the creature had seen him in another one of his shameful fits, he just wanted to be alone in his cold dark empty room. 

“Can we play tomorrow?” the fox spirit asked.

“No”

“My name’s Sebastian, we could play hide and seek?”

“I said no” Ciel pointedly pulled the futon up higher, trying his best to ignore the annoying spirit. _Wasn’t it bad luck to see spirits? He’d never been able to see them before… ___

__“What about tag?” the little fox now named Sebastian crept closer to his futon. Ciel didn’t respond._ _

__The kitsune sat at the foot of his bed “we could play a different game, I don’t mind. I won’t prank you again” the fox kept talking, but Ciel had already drifted asleep. And so Sebastian let slip his ‘human’ form and curled up at the foot of the dying boy’s bed, trying to match the rise and fall of his orange pelt to that of the boy’s chest. The little fox pup buried his black nose in his tiny white socked paws and waited for the human to be awake to play. He didn’t know why he wanted to play with the human boy, but he stayed through the cold lonely night anyway. Perhaps he too was just tired of being alone._ _

__\--_ _

__The fox was always there, at first, he just watched the boy sleep and stayed curled up at the foot of his bed like one of those dogs that Sebastian hates. But then he learnt Ciel’s name from his mirror sibling that occasionally came to visit, he liked the boy’s name, something about it suited his gentle looks and tiny form. The kitsune started to ask the boy if he wanted to play any games, but Ciel always stubbornly refused. Sebastian couldn’t be seen by the other humans, although that fact only seemed to unsettle Ciel, the spirit is used to regular people not being able to see him though._ _

“Can you see the fox?” Ciel offhandedly asked his twin brother one day, but after he received a _what fox? _in return, he didn’t bring it up again.__

____

____“Tell me about yourself Ciel, why don’t you want to play with me?” the fox asked as he leaned over the face of the sick boy lying in bed._ _ _ _

____

____“I already told you! I’m sick, I can’t play games I have to sleep and rest” Ciel sighed in frustration and closed his eye. Sebastian leaned in closer still, hair making a curtain around their faces._ _ _ _

____

____“Your eye smells funny”_ _ _ _

____

____“I don’t have an eye there anymore, it’s just a hole” Ciel didn’t want to talk about it, he just wanted the dog to leave him alone._ _ _ _

____

____The kitsune leaned in further still and placed a gentle kiss over the white bandages that covered what once was Ciel’s right eye. Sebastian had closed his own eyes at some point and when he pulled away from the child, Ciel was staring at him with that mini ocean of an iris, it felt like Ciel could see right through to the sprit’s soul and so the kitsune had to look away to avoid his cheeks lighting on fire._ _ _ _

____

____Ciel didn’t talk about what had just happened, instead he asked a question that surprised them both._ _ _ _

____

____“There’s a bunch of board and card games in the cupboard, go find one you want to play” without wasting any time, Sebastian raced to the inbuilt wall cupboard to grab the first wooden box of playing cards that he saw. The fox helped Ciel sit upright, while the young boy explained the rules to the spirit who had never played any type of card game before. They played different versions of simple card games until Ciel became too sleepy and the sun set. Sebastian moved from the foot of the bed to beside the sick boy, and Ciel ran his fingers through soft orange fox fur until he couldn’t keep his eye open any longer._ _ _ _

____

____\--_ _ _ _

____

____The fox had been visiting him for weeks now, or perhaps he had never even left. Whenever Ciel was awake the kitsune always seemed to be around to bug him. The little boy didn’t want to admit it, but he had somehow become friends with the young spirit. They were both children and no one else really visited Ciel, so Sebastian just seemed to naturally grow close to him._ _ _ _

____

____They sat once more in Ciel’s bedroom, doodling whatever came to mind with an old ink set that Sebastian had ‘found’. The fox wouldn’t let him see what he was drawing though and while the secrecy annoyed him Ciel focused instead on trying to draw the stars that he wanted to see again. He missed the stars, but the night air was far too cold for him to breath, and the doctors had banned him from leaving his room, lest his condition worsen._ _ _ _

____

____He had begun to see other little sprits, dark shadows in corners, tiny things with little black bodies that looked like clumps of dust with little beady eyes. Some looked back at him, but most of the tiny spirits ran whenever they saw Sebastian. Ciel knew that he could only see the kitsune because he was close to death, but it didn’t bother him as much as it did before. His once right eye ached more everyday even when the servants changed the bandages and applied fresh herbs, so maybe the end wasn’t such a bad thing, if it meant that he’d stop hurting, stop being a burden on his family, stop being a failure._ _ _ _

____

____“Hey Ciel, look I drew us! Don’t we look good together!” Sebastian shoved a drawing of two stick figures holding hands in his face, thoroughly pulling him from his morbid reminiscing. Ciel grabbed the piece of paper so that he could actually look at it and noted that one of the figures had fox ears with a tail, while the other only had only one dot for an eye. The sick boy looked up to the anxious fox, Sebastian probably didn’t realise just how intensely he was staring at the boy._ _ _ _

____

____“I love it”_ _ _ _

____

____\--_ _ _ _

____

____“Ciel” Sebastian whispered into the air of the dark bedroom._ _ _ _

____

____“What” the little boy replied back groggily. The fox pulled him closer, his slightly taller body was wrapped around the sick boy like an extra blanket, but Ciel didn’t have the energy to push him away. The boy didn’t know how sleeping at the end of his bed in fox form had turned into having Sebastian smothering him in human form, but the kitsune had started cuddling up to him in the night and would now regularly wrap Ciel up in his warm comforting arms that the boy would never admit to enjoying._ _ _ _

____

____“You’re too cold…” the fox mumbled, nose pressed against Ciel’s soft slate coloured locks as he tried his best to keep Ciel warm. The boy gave a sleepy hum in reply and buried his face in deeper to the fox’s warm kimono clad body._ _ _ _

____

____“Can we play outside tomorrow?” the kitsune asked, but Ciel was already asleep and Sebastian already knew the answer._ _ _ _

____

____\--_ _ _ _

____

____The little fox watched as Ciel coughed and gasped, struggling to breath as he futilely covered his mouth with his small hands. When the coughing fit finally died down the Ciel was left with a shaking body and a red and watering eye. The child pulled his hands away only to see speckles of blood on them._ _ _ _

____

____Sebastian took a hold of Ciel’s hands and wiped them meticulously with a cloth, he didn’t look up at the boy, instead focusing on cleaning his dainty little hands. When the kitsune deemed them clean enough he clasped them tightly in his own and just held them to his lips in something that was almost a kiss. Sebastian closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of the little boy. He wasn’t ready either._ _ _ _

____

____“Aren’t you scared?” the kitsune asked after a long time, he lowered Ciel’s hands but didn’t let them go._ _ _ _

____

____Sebastian found that he was scared, he’d never been scared before and that fact alone made him even more frightened. The fox didn’t know why he felt this way, he was a kitsune, a heartless fox demon, but he was also a little pup afraid to lose his new friend. He didn’t want to let the boy go._ _ _ _

____

____Ciel exhaled deeply and closed his remaining eye. His pounding headache made him want to rip out an eye that wasn’t even there anymore._ _ _ _

____

____“Let’s play another game” he avoided Sebastian’s question, the shaking of his pale hands was already enough of an answer._ _ _ _

____

____“I’ll even let you pick this time”_ _ _ _

____

____\--_ _ _ _

____

____“What kind of game is this?” Ciel asked as the kitsune carried him like a bride outside and into the large carefully arranged garden of Ciel’s family home. Sebastian took him to a single cherry blossom tree that was losing all of its flowers and sat him gently on the ground, before settling down next to him. The fox pulled his too big black kimono back over his shoulder where it had dropped down, he seemed nervous and fidgety to the sick boy._ _ _ _

____

____“You drew a picture of the stars, you miss them, don’t you?” Sebastian tilted his head, ears flicking towards his one eyed friend as his red eyes gleamed in the moonlight._ _ _ _

____

____“I wanted to see them, at least one more time” Ciel remarked, but he only spared a glance at the array of twinkling night lights. He found that he just wanted Sebastian to hold his hands again, and the kitsune seemed to feel the same way as he soon wrapped Ciel’s icy cold hands in his own clawed ones._ _ _ _

____

____Sebastian blushed a deep red that at first confused the boy, until he leaned forward and hesitantly kissed Ciel right on the lips. It was short and sweet, and it made Ciel burn red too. But before he knew it, the kiss was over, and he quickly realised that his first and possibly only kiss had just been given to a fox spirt._ _ _ _

____

____Ciel felt warm and fuzzy, and couldn’t look the fox in the eye, he was too shy and embarrassed. But he smiled contently at his lap and leaned against Sebastian’s shoulder to watch the night sky. It was like shards of glass dropped onto black silk, and Ciel felt small when he looked at the midnight view. Sebastian draped an arm over the sick boy’s shoulder and took him back to bed when Ciel eventually dozed off._ _ _ _

____

____The fox hated the wheezing sound in the boy’s chest as he struggled with every breath throughout the dark night, if only because it meant that his friend would be leaving him too soon._ _ _ _

____


	2. Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ciel's condition worsens, the fox feels his chest ache painfully.
> 
> He's not ready to let go...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I haven't worked on this fic in months! sorry for the long wait, I've been hoping from story to story, but I swear i'll finish them all!
> 
> This got kinda angsty, but it might just be me and my wussy-ness

“Oi! Get out of here!” The boy tried to hit the fox pup with a broom, the straw slapping against the floor as the animal ducked and weaved between his legs and out the sliding door. 

“Ciel you can’t leave the door open! You’ll let in wild animals” his twin chastised as he leaned the broom against the paper wall before sitting on his knees by Ciel’s bedside. The poorly boy’s skin was warm and damp when the twin touched his forehead, contradicting its pale and ghostly appearance.

"I'm sorry..."

The healthy boy sighed, Ciel’s fever hadn’t gotten any better. He carefully peeled off the soiled bandage, internally cringing at the festering sight beneath. To see his brother suffering so made his heart ache and brought fresh tears to his eyes.

\--

“Sebastian?” Ciel weakly called out, the fox clutched his hand tighter, breathing in the soiled scent of the sick boy. 

“I don’t think going outside was such a good idea…” he wheezed, lungs weak and mind foggy. The kitsune nuzzled deeper into his side, he couldn’t stay away from the boy and had clung to his side ever since they shared their first kiss. That kiss he couldn’t stop thinking about.

Sebastian liked to kiss the human boy, it was strange and new and even though Ciel’s reeked of sickness he was so soft and pure, it was like touching warm spring sunshine with his lips. Their kisses were innocent, no tongue and hardly ever on the mouth, Sebastian liked to kiss Ciel’s hands, the top of his knuckles and the inside of his palms. The little fox was intoxicated, could never seem to get enough. And Sebastian loved it when Ciel rubbed his big fluffy fox ears, they were so sensitive and even when Ciel was weak with fever he could still rub soothing little circles while Sebastian lay on his chest listening to his weak lungs.

“Can we go out to play soon?” the fox pup asked, ignoring Ciel’s earlier statement and burring deeper the guilt bubbling up inside of him. He knew it was a terrible question, Ciel could barely sit up, barely hold down food, let alone play any games with him, but the question had slipped out anyway.

“I don’t think so… maybe later” the boy whispered, soft black eyelashes fluttering as he fought against his closing eye. 

“That’s alright, we can play tons of games when you get better…” Sebastian lifted the corner of his lip in a smile, but it didn’t reach his carmine eyes. 

“Hey, don’t sleep now! I wanna show you something!” the fox grabbed the drowsy boy’s cheeks, pulling back on his eyelid to keep Ciel awake and coaxing a precious giggle from him as Sebastian squished and pulled at his face.

“Watch this, I’ve been practising!” the kitsune told him excitedly, jumping into the air and shapeshifting into a small kite. A thin wooden frame held stretched bright red and black paper, similar to his kimono design, the little object floated on an invisible breeze around the room’s ceiling. Sebastian even did a small back flip, twirling and floating as he slowly fell to the ground. It amazed Ciel, the little spectacle putting a soft smile on his face. Inevitably he fell unconscious, smile dropping as his single blue eye closed, his body's strength waning.

Sebastian shifted back when he touched the ground by the end of the bed. He burrowed under the blankets like he would dig through the earth to build a den, he squirmed under the covers until he reached Ciel’s face. The boy was sleeping and if he’d done anything right Ciel would be dreaming of the wind and the stars and little flying kites. Sebastian pressed his face into the boy’s clammy and sweat soaked skin, trying to get closer as he nuzzled under the boy’s chin. 

The kitsune was a little disappointed that he couldn’t keep the boy awake to see the end of his trick. Despite his best efforts he could feel Ciel’s soul slipping away…

\--

Ciel coughed and coughed _and coughed _until blood and spit dribbled down his chin, he threw up on his blankets and between his legs, almost falling over with how hard he was shaking.__

__Sebastian didn’t know what to do as Ciel’s family burst into the room, the boy’s twin brother stroked his back while he gasped desperately for breath. One of the servants threw open the sliding paper door that lead to the backyard, trying to air out the smell of sickness and cool the boy’s burning fever._ _

__The fox spirit was invisible in the corner of the room, his cold white mask covered the tears that welled up in his bright scarlet eyes. The human was dying. Fading faster than Sebastian could handle. Frustration burned in his guts, childish anger at the world for being so unreasonably cruel. Ciel didn’t deserve this, he deserved warm hugs and pretty flowers and anything else that would make him happy. Not blood in his mouth and shallow breaths, not all this pointless pain._ _

__Sebastian bunched up the fabric of his kimono in his hands, twisted and pulled at the black material as the other humans tried to clean up Ciel and make him comfortable. The fox whimpered unintentionally, it sounded like a kicked dog, like a pathetic pup and Sebastian had never felt more small and helpless than he did right then._ _

__Ciel’s unfocused eye glanced over his concerned twin’s shoulder, whatever words he was saying were lost on the sick boy as he stared at the kitsune standing in the corner of his room. He knew crying when he heard it but couldn’t muster up the energy to lift his hand, to gesture the pup over here and tell him that it would be alright. He wanted to kiss the fox again, like they did outside under the endless stars and the cherry blossom. He wanted Sebastian to make his heart flutter and his cheeks burn like they did before, not with fever but with a newfound shyness that made him feel like he was walking on air._ _

__Weightless. That’s how he felt when he was with the kitsune. He felt free and happy, like a spring breeze whenever the fox held him in his arms. Ciel’s eyelid dropped, the room falling once more into a frighting darkness that he was unsure he’d ever come back from._ _

__\--_ _

__“What’s this?” The boy asked, brows furrowed in confusion as he strained to focus his single glassy eye._ _

__“It will make you grow strong!” Sebastian insisted, pushing the dead bird into the boy’s cold clammy hands. Ciel’s eyelid fluttered as he fought through the haze of disease clouding his mind, the throbbing pain from the remnants of his right eye making it hard to concentrate._ _

__He closed little fingers over the bird’s lukewarm feathery body and a jolt of alarm shoot through him as he felt a patch of wetly clumped red stained feathers, knobbly stick like legs and the press of thin bones beneath._ _

__“Sebastian…” Ciel breathed out, eye closing as he used what little energy he had left to lift his arm and place the small bird onto the tatami mat floor._ _

__“I can’t eat fox food” he explained gently. The kitsune probably didn’t know any better, he was just trying to help._ _

__“But you’re so weak, we can’t play anymore if you’re always in bed!” the fox whined._ _

__“I’m sorry” Ciel’s voice was weak, trembling with unshed tears. He hated that he couldn’t play with Sebastian anymore, hated that this was hurting his friend, that he was powerless to do anything about it._ _

__The fox took a deep breath, fists clenching and unclenching as he looked from Ciel’s pale face and pink stained bandage to the bird he’d caught for the boy, it’s cold black eye staring up at him from the floor._ _

__Sebastian picked up the little bird, squeezed it in his fist before throwing it at the wall. It bounced off the wooden panel leaving a splash of blood behind, the violent action startled Ciel, his wide blue eye now watching the fox carefully as Sebastian clenched his teeth, the shoulder of his black kimono slipping down his arm._ _

__“We’re leaving”_ _

__“What?” Ciel frowned in confusion, gaze drifting to the red patch now staining his bedroom wall and the equally red fox, Sebastian’s eyes were glowing a vivid carmine._ _

__“We’re going somewhere fun!” Sebastian demanded, “I’m going to show you where I usually hang out”_ _

__“But I can’t leave this bed” the boy protested, hands bunching up the covers._ _

__“You’re not getting any better here, you might as well come with me! I’ll even carry you” the kitsune offered, held titling with a smirk as tried desperately to smother his earlier rage and ignore his outburst. Sebastian knelt by his bedside, long nailed hands grabbing the human’s and holding them tightly, eagerly, as he awaited the boy’s answer._ _

__Ciel felt unsure about this, the last time he went outside his condition became far worse, but he also didn’t want to spend what little time he had left lying in a boring plain bedroom waiting to die._ _

__“Take me with you” he whispered._ _

__\--_ _

__Ciel laughed and giggled from atop Sebastian’s back, his legs locked securely around the kitsune’s waist while his arms draped over the fox boy’s shoulders. Sebastian splashed and bounded through the shallow stream, bare feet hopping from rock to rock as they played in the water._ _

__The kitsune had tied his yukata up around his waist in an attempt at keeping it dry, but every jump caused more water to splash their legs, drenching his tail and making damp spots on their clothes._ _

__“Maybe we’ll catch a koi fish!” Sebastian excitedly exclaimed as they chased tiny schools of fish though the deeper parts, the little silver slips scattering before they could get close though._ _

__Sebastian sprinted up stream, each step jostling Ciel and making him smile and giggle as the fox ducked and weaved around river stones and gangly roots. They were both smiling and laughing and enjoying childish unrestrained fun until Sebastian slipped, foot skidding forward on an algae covered rock and upending their adventure in the time it took to blink. The fox yelped, trying his best to land sideways, Ciel squeezed tightly to hold on, but they both ended up falling in the rocky water with a loud splash._ _

__Gingerly the two kids got up, their laughter silenced, Sebastian eyeing a line of scrapes along his arm, the blood diluting in the water across his skin. Ciel shook his hair, splashing the fox. Both of their yukatas were soaked through and the boy was missing a sandal that was probably halfway downstream by now._ _

__“Sorry…”_ _

__“It was an accident” Ciel brushed it off, body beginning to shiver as the cold reached his core, the boy coughed a few times, his rattling lungs once again shaking his weak body. The boy felt dizzy, the cold stream burning his skin._ _

__Instantly guilt bubbled in the fox, thankful at least that his best friend’s skull hadn’t been cracked open on the rocky waterway. Sebastian pushed the long wet locks out of Ciel’s eyes, his own hair not nearly as drenched as the boy’s. He felt tears gather in his eyes, but refused to cry in front of Ciel, he wanted to kiss the boy better, but was afraid that because he made them fall that he wasn't wanted anymore._ _

__Ciel’s bandage was slipping, an ill looking pinkness exploding just under the soaked material. The fox helped him up, “let’s go dry off in the sun” he suggested, already making his way to the bank, Sebastian settling them on a large flat dry rock. But despite the warm sun, Ciel still shivered, skin growing pale as his yukata clung to his frail body wetly like a second skin._ _

__“Ciel!” A man called out into the woods, Sebastian’s large fox ears swivelling around to hear it. The kitsune kissed him on the forehead and disappeared into the forest, feeling a storm of emotions that left him feeling hopeless. Guilt, fear, regret, he didn’t know what to do._ _

__Vincent quickly found Ciel, the boy’s farther chastising him for only a moment before he realised Ciel's state and picked him up to take home and warm up, the exposure from the stream having sent the boy’s health into a nosedive. As Ciel coughed into his shoulder, water from his body wetting the man’s clothes, Vincent noticed a trail of wet sandal prints across the dry rocks leading from his dying son into the forest…_ _


End file.
